It was in 1128 that St Bernard de Clairvaux sent some monks to found the monastery of Igny 30 km from Rheims. The community developed rapidly and has many as 300 monks. Just before the Revolution they were only six. The monastery sold as a national property was bought in 1875 by the bishop of Rheims who brought over Cistercians from STE Marie du Desert (Toulouse Diocese). Then came the Grande Guerre. All the buildings were destroyed during the Germans withdraw in 1918. The actual monastery, rebuilt in 1928-1929, is occupied this time by Cistercians Moniales coming from Laval (Mayenne). In 2008, our three communities of the North-East of France : Belval (Pas de Calais), La Grâce-Dieu (Doubs) and Igny (Marne) decided to unite to face up to a significant diminution of their effective and of their strengths due to the old age and the lack of vocations. In the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Val d’Igny at Arcis, the place chosen for this purpose, work was undertaken to receive about 60 Moniales. A small unity of life was arranged to allow older sister to stay in a Monastic cadre and to benefit from medical care. In 2011, the Cistercian community of Ubexy in the Vosges joined the sisters of Igny. The second abbot of Igny, Guerric, is worshipped as Blessed in Rheims diocese. His relics are kept in the monastery church. His best inheritance is still the 54 liturgical sermons in which he emphasizes the role of Mary in the training and the spiritual growth of Christ in the soul. It is also to be noted the influence of our first communities : Ubexy founded one in Japan in 1898 and Mexico in 1971 ; Igny founded one in Zaire (RDC) in 1955. As for the Sisters of La Grâce-Dieu they are the heritors of Port Royal and it is thanks to the help of St Benoït Labre that the Abbey of Belval took birth. Abbaye Notre-Dame du Val d’Igny
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Abbey of Notre-Dame du Val d’Igny at Arcis
